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Cartagena
Driving in to CartagenaTuesday 4
th March (Odyssey Day 116)
Today was another late start as we travelled from Barranquilla to Cartagena. We departed at 1045 since it is only a few hours’ drive and there is no point in getting there too early as we wouldn’t be able to check in.
As it turned out, Steve beat us to Cartagena and will re-join the group now after a month away travelling through the Amazon.
The Hotel Stil, where we are staying here, is nice. I’m in a twin with Joanna and we actually have TV here with an English channel. Not a lot on of course, but it’s still a novelty. We even have not-cold showers. I wouldn’t call them warm exactly, but neither are they cold. As it stands, I wouldn’t care either way since it’s still very hot here even at night.
We had a free afternoon which was spent walking around the hotel area. Cartagena is an old city, founded by the Spanish in the 16
th century. The walls were built around the
Cartagena
Hannah & AJ, watching the sunset from the walls of the city city when it became a frequent target of pirates, and it then grew into an important trading port. Of course the city has grown rather a lot since then and now has expanded far beyond the walls of the original city. Our hotel was in the historical area, which was convenient for us as it meant we could walk around to all the places of interest.
Wednesday 5
th March (Odyssey Day 117)
Today was a free day that I spent relaxing around the hotel. Breakfast was a decent buffet, and there was even a comfortable sitting area. The hotel also had a café and there were a few small food places just next door. This past week has been like a little holiday what with camping on the beach, celebrating Carnival and now a full three days to see Cartagena.
I did meet up with some of the others at 1745 to head to the old town wall to watch the sun set over the water. We did have to really hurry through the streets
Cartagena
Colourful colonial street though and even then only just made it to the wall in time to see the sun actually setting. We had a beer by the wall since there were no seats left at the bar there. We then wandered around town for a bit until we came across somewhere to have a drink. It was really expensive in the square though so we only had one drink and I bought a couple of sketches from a guy on the street, something I just couldn’t resist.
We then headed off into the narrow cobbled streets of Cartagena and found an Italian restaurant to eat at. Actually the others noticed an Indian restaurant first and thought about eating there – until they remembered that I was with them and wouldn’t be able to.
We were a little concerned at first about eating up in the loft as the wooden plank flooring didn’t look overly stable and we only just fit everyone up there. Fortunately we managed to eat our delicious pizza or pasta meals and have a drink without falling through the floor. Definitely the sign of a
Cartagena
Interesting recycle bin - at least it's obvious what should go in this one. good restaurant…
Thursday 6
th March (Odyssey Day 118)
A few of us arranged to meet in the lobby after breakfast at 1000 to head down to the gold museum to see if we could hire a guide to show us around the old town. We ended up hiring Leonardo ‘not Da Vinci’ as our guide for a 3 hour walking tour which included the gold museum. It was interesting and he certainly knew quite a bit of random information about the history of Colombia, the buildings, slavery and gold (which I guess is expected of someone who works in a gold museum). We stopped at a couple of cathedrals, walked down some very old streets, went through a couple of museums, walked along some of the wall, and learnt a lot about the city of Cartagena.
After the tour, I headed back to the hotel with Ann. We stopped for a drink along the way and were treated to the sight of a taxi demonstration which, as far as we could determine, was
Cartagena
I can't think of any better use for gold, than fishing hooks about pay issues. We saw literally hundreds of taxis driving slowly down the street beeping their horns continuously.
This afternoon, Ellie and I booked our flights for after the tour from Buenos Aires and also found an amazing hotel to stay in for 11 days in Cancun. We figure we will really need some down time between our trips. Gives us something more to look forward to, though truthfully we still have plenty of this trip to get through first and it seems like it is such a long way off.
We then walked to the Café de Mar to join the rest of the group who had headed there for drinks and to watch the sunset. This is the bar/restaurant on the wall overlooking the water. The drinks here were very expensive, but cheaper if you bought a jug – so Sangria it was. They don’t just make it with red wine and juice here though, it’s made with wine, brandy and triple sec – delicious to be sure but very strong and definitely to be shared if you want to make it home in
Cartagena
The cathedrals here are beautiful one piece.
We then headed for somewhere more affordable for dinner and I had a delicious grilled fish. It was like a little mini snapper and cooked perfectly. Then up the road to the Mona Lisa bar which again was quite expensive, but all the girls got two cocktails for the price of one, so we couldn’t complain really. They were rather strict about who drank them though, so the boys missed out.
The plan was to head to a salsa bar but the prices were way beyond us for the drinks there so we headed further along the road to a hostel bar where what remained of the group danced the night away. Ellie and I headed back around 0100 and this was our goodbye to Donna and Glen who leave the trip tomorrow to head back to Australia and the real world. It will be strange to say goodbye to them, but it is not entirely unexpected.
Friday 7
th March (Odyssey Day 119)
Today was our
Cartagena
Inside the cathedral last day in Cartagena, so Joanna and I headed off across the bridge and away from the historic part of the city to do some shopping. We found a large shopping complex to spend the morning in and managed to spend some money. We even found a nice little café to have some ice cream in, something that is very easy to do in Colombia.
Dinner tonight with Joanna, Ellie and Ann was at another pizza place. I have eaten more pizza on this trip than in my entire life, I think. It’s really good pizza though and so easy to get. It is also one of those foods that you can tell what you are getting even if it is all in Spanish on the menu.
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